https://newsroom.aaa.com/2020/11/fewer-americans-traveling-this-thanksgiving-amid-pandemic/

ORLANDO, Fla. (November 12, 2020) – Thanksgiving will be on the lighter side when it comes to the typical number of travelers on the roads and at airports. According to AAA Travel, effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, including health concerns and high unemployment, are impacting Americans’ decisions to travel for the Thanksgiving holiday. With health and government officials stressing that staying home is the best way to protect yourself and others from getting sick, AAA anticipates at least a 10% drop in travel – the largest one-year decrease since the Great Recession in 2008.


Based on mid-October forecast models, AAA would have expected up to 50 million Americans to travel for Thanksgiving – a drop from 55 million in 2019. However, as the holiday approaches and Americans monitor the public health landscape, including rising COVID-19 positive case numbers, renewed quarantine restrictions and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) travel health notices, AAA expects the actual number of holiday travelers will be even lower.

“The wait-and-see travel trend continues to impact final travel decisions, especially for the Thanksgiving holiday,” said Paula Twidale, senior vice president, AAA Travel. “The decision to travel is a personal one. For those who are considering making a trip, the majority will go by car, which provides the flexibility to modify holiday travel plans up until the day of departure.”

For Americans who make the personal decision to travel for the holiday, it is important to know the risks involved and ways to keep yourself and others safe. In addition to CDC guidance, travelers should also be aware of local and state travel restrictions, including testing requirements and quarantine orders.
What to Know Before You Go

Plan Ahead. Check with state and local authorities where you are, along your route, and at your planned destination to learn about local circumstances and any restrictions that may be in place.
Follow Public Health Guidance. Consistent use of face masks combined with social distancing (at least 6 feet) and regular handwashing are the best ways to lower your risk of contracting COVID-19. Be sure to pack face masks, disinfecting wipes, hand sanitizer and a thermometer to help protect and monitor your health. Also pack water and extra snacks to reduce the need to stop along your trip.
Verify Before You Go. Call ahead to minimize any last minute surprises.
Hotels – Prior to any hotel stay, call ahead to ensure your hotel is open and ask what precautions they are taking to protect guests. Ask about social distancing protocols like capacity reductions in common spaces, hotel staff requirements to wear masks at all times and if all amenities are available, like restaurant dining.
Car rentals – If renting a car, ask what has been done to clean the vehicle. Hertz, for example, has introduced Hertz Gold Standard Clean, an enhanced vehicle disinfectant and sanitization process. For extra peace of mind, use disinfecting wipes to wipe down door handles, steering wheels, shifters and control panels.
Helpful AAA Resources. Visit AAA’s COVID-19 Travel Restrictions Map for the latest state and local travel restrictions. Use TripTik.AAA.com to plan your road trip and help determine which rest stops, gas stations, restaurants and hotels are open along your route.

Road Trips Top Holiday Travel Plans

Those who decide to travel are likely to drive shorter distances and reduce the number of days they are away, making road trips the dominant form of travel this Thanksgiving. Travel by automobile is projected to fall 4.3%, to 47.8 million travelers and account for 95% of all holiday travel.

AAA reminds those hitting the road to plan their route ahead. To minimize the number of stops along the way, pack meals, extra snacks and drinks in addition to an emergency roadside kit.

Before you head out, be sure your vehicle is ready for the trip to avoid a breakdown along the way. AAA expects to rescue more than 413,000 Americans at the roadside this Thanksgiving. AAA makes it easy to request assistance – by phone, app or online – and members can track the service technician’s progress as they make their way to your vehicle.

Few Travelers to Fly and Use Other Modes of Travel

AAA anticipates Thanksgiving air travel volume will be down by nearly half of prior years – to 2.4 million travelers. This would be the largest one-year decrease on record. For these travelers, AAA notes holiday airfares are the lowest in three years. If flying, AAA reminds air travelers that in-flight amenities, including food and beverage services, may not be available. Also, as a precaution, wipe down your seat, armrest, belt buckle and tray table using disinfecting wipes.

Travel by other modes, including buses, trains and cruises, is expected to decline 76%, to 353,000 travelers, as cruise ships remain docked and more travelers opt for car trips instead of taking buses or trains.

INRIX Predicts Wednesday Afternoon to See Peak Traffic

Traffic volume is expected to be less than in years past, but travelers in major urban areas will experience increased delays at popular bottlenecks, up to 30% above normal pandemic congestion levels. INRIX expects Wednesday afternoon to see the highest volume of traffic.

“Though fewer people will be traveling this Thanksgiving, we expect more holiday drivers than we had over the last few holidays during COVID-19,” said Bob Pishue, Transportation Analyst at INRIX. “Drivers should plan alternate routes and departure times to avoid traffic jams.”

Road Trippers to Be Met with Lower Gas Prices

Those who decide to hit the road for Thanksgiving will find cheaper gas prices. On average, gas prices nationally are nearly 50 cents cheaper than this time last year, with October averages the lowest in more than 15 years.

AAA members can fill up for even less at Shell stations when they join the Fuel Rewards® program at AAA.com/Shell Nov. 15 through Dec. 31. In addition to the five cents per gallon everyday offer, members will receive an additional 10 cents off per gallon on their first three fill-ups after joining for the first time as a Fuel Rewards® member, for a total savings of 15 cents.

My sister is flying out here for Thanksgiving with my mother and uncle who's just been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. Unfuckingbelievable. I told my mom it was incredibly stupid and she got mad at me for judging her. I'm not going. Staying home with my gf.

we’ve discussed my views but I couldn’t convince him
I’m here, his grandmother and his daughter
he’s coming...

I don't even get why so many think skipping in-person Thanksgiving (and Xmas, let's be real) is anything other than a basic decision about safety and human decency

Wasn't around when everything first hit the fan and numbers and deaths went up in the spring

Wasn't around when things semi-stabilized and restrictions and stored started opening back up

Wasn't around when things started hitting the fan as experts had been saying for months once fall hit

You think safety and human decency is going to get in the way of long standing family tradition?

are still having thanksgiving

Let’s be completely honest about this.

Governors are telling people to stay home, cancel shit and then get caught at dinner parties without mask.

Stop selling turkeys if you don’t want people to have Thanksgiving.

there's a significant amount of people who figure "well I won't die, so I don't care"

and also a lot of people who figure "I'd rather die and/or murder my family than not do what I want to do"

and those are the choices we make as a country



www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

>there's a significant amount of people who figure "well I
>won't die, so I don't care"
>
>and also a lot of people who figure "I'd rather die and/or
>murder my family than not do what I want to do"
>
>and those are the choices we make as a country
>
>
>
>www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

I would rather die than not do what I want to do. *woman in church swaying with her eyes closed gif*

I have been saying this since April when I finally figured out what was happening and why folks were so deadset on keeping their various parties going. Weddings. Trips. Graduations. House parties. All of that. It’s crazy. But it’s damn well what is happening.

IT'S NOT EVEN SAFE OR COMFORTABLE

they just want to do what they want to do

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

Denver mayor is traveling for the Thanksgiving holiday, hours after asking residents to stay home
https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/25/us/denver-mayor-thanksgiving-plans-trnd/index.html

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

We're not going over
I think my sister is ... but my parents pick my neice up from school a few times a week and help with those kinds of things
So they're in regular contact ... but even then they mask up.
That mayor is insanely selfish in his actions right now, he should resign.

it’s frustrating for sure, but what do you do? say...

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2020/11/coronavirus-death-rate-third-surge/617150/

“I expect the U.S. to be reporting over 2,000 deaths per day in three weeks’ time,” Bedford concluded. “Importantly, this doesn’t assume any further increases in circulation and is essentially ‘baked into’ currently reported cases and represents conditions that take time to resolve and to be reported.”

And this analysis does not factor in new dynamics that could make outcomes worse, such as the possibility that local hospital systems collapse, which many health-care workers and experts are warning about. Already, more than 20 percent of hospitals are anticipating a staff shortage this week—and the Mayo Clinic reported that 900 of its workers had tested positive in the past two weeks. Nor does the analysis incorporate the possibility of an overburdened testing system becoming unable to complete as many tests as necessary, which would depress case counts. Either of these factors could push or skew the expected death rate even higher.

https://twitter.com/dhookstead/status/1329511354760302600?s=20

butttttt...someone in the Lion's org was like "GET MATT ON THE PHONE!!!" Cuz, the walk-back came quick:

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/sports/nfl/lions/2020/11/19/kelly-stafford-says-shes-over-living-michigan-dictatorship-matthew-stafford/6341470002/

well no shit it's your opinion, it is coming out of your own fucking mouth

that rich + white jumped out

https://twitter.com/georgemycyknbc/status/1329777410498306048?s=10

in front of me, but the guy behind me was right up on me. The guy behind him was more than 6 feet back. We were in line for 2 hours to vote and I kept giving him dirty looks. For two hours he stayed right up on me.

Some people just don't care which makes it harder for those who do care.

A lot of folk are either oblivious to, or will ignore, nonverbal signals. But if I verbally ask you to please step a little further away from me, then you have to make a conscious decision to have a confrontation with me over your decision to stand too close to a stranger during a pandemic. Most people won’t do that, so they step back.

Peace,

Spirit (Alan)
http://wutangbook.com

Yeah it's tradition that you suppose to go to your parents or grandparents house to celebrate thanksgiving but it's not like it's some mandatory or else type of situation, there have been many times certain family members (who live in the same town) skip this and the get together doesn't feel any different cause maybe they went to another family member's dinner instead or they wasn't really up for it.

But with this covid-19 going around and changing how we as people hangout with each other or social distancing is the new norm, it's not like I want to really be around the older family members just to do something that might risk their health (even though I know I don't have covid).

Most of the family that lives out of town aren't traveling to see their parents or grandparents cause they know the situation and they usually keep contact with them by calling and doing video chats with them; so why do people in america now going to break social distancing rules to have a celebration that isn't really important (cause most don't know the true meaning behind it) just more of doing it out of habit cause they was raised to do it.

My family always did Thanksgiving dinner away from the TV so I’ve always missed big portions of the evening games and spent much of the early games setting up.

I finally could veg out all day on the games but I stopped watching the league 3 years ago lol

Reminder: Mom went through chemo and a major cancer surgery this year. She has chronic pain AND she's very depressed because of all this PLUS the lockdown is getting her.

She has travelled to Arizona to spend 2 months with her sister, the sister's husband and their child (adopted grandkid.)

So her exposure risk is UP - this is an area of Arizona with a lot of infections (Navajo County) and while they wear masks they are going out a lot.

Well on Thanksgiving my aunt, husband and kid are going to a Thanksgiving dinner with 22 people.

My mother is not attending because of the risk.

But if they get on Thursday and come home she'll get it Friday or Saturday.

They just don't seem to be able to keep the idea that this is a VERY infectious disease that ONLY requires you to share air.

I can't fucking believe that now that there are actual vaccines that will be rolling out to people in a few MONTHS that they just can't fucking wait. It's a few months - it's not unknown/forever.

All this talk about FAMILY being the reason for the season is BULLSHIT - they are slaves to the calendar. If my mom dies of it I'll definitely be pissed at her - and I will definitely cut off that entire side of the family forever.

if I’m following the story right, lol

you believe this because of “potential” exposure in AZ?

... going to a 22 person Thanksgiving dinner then coming back.

They'll be in a house ALL DAY with like 20+ people then coming back. So if any of those 22 have it they'll likely get it - and then my mother gets from them a few days later.

It's way way way riskier than I think is responsible.

The family out there are true Trump believers. To be fair to me and my mother only 1 is a blood relative - they rest are from her marriage.

So in the middle of the biggest wave of pandemic these fucking idiots can't wait a few months to get together and eat. They ain't that good of cooks, and frankly they aren't actually that close - they use these holidays as an excuse/way to pretend to be closer than they really are.

They crave normalcy more than they care about potentially killing my mother - who just recovered from cancer surgery.

And I'll be mad at her for staying around that foolishness' too.

damn.

She’s the one in danger. They clearly wont acknowledge the risk. She’s gotta pack up and roll.

Peace,

Spirit (Alan)
http://wutangbook.com

She’s at the point where she convinced herself that being locked in the house alone is worse than death. She won’t go to a counselor. I don’t think there’s anything I can do to convince her, I mention almost every time we talk I think she should leave and that the vaccine will be given to her with a fairly high priority because of her age and medical condition and that it’s only 4 to 6 months away. But she just won’t listen.

I haven't talked to her in two days - she says she caught some sort of "bug."

Could be a cold or flu - but she's not forthcoming. And I doubt she got tested yet.

I think that if it IS COVID she won't tell me because I've been telling her I'm worried about her going out there.

It's 12/2/2020 and all I can do is wait.

But I'm worried.

There's a grandkid out there and he got sick with nausea and extreme tiredness a few days back.

Those are the systems my mom has had about 1 day after the kid.


If it sticks around she'll go get tested - so it's unknown now, but I think she's stupid as fuck to be out there.

and gotten ill have recovered.

as long as it’s not their family.

.

and telling people to look it up

Herd immunity doesn't occur naturally in the world wide population without vaccines.

I dislike a lot of people. Way more than I love. I’m not willing to kill 1/100 of I know.
And that’s mortality. Long term health effects are another.
Friend of mine and her husband caught it months back by being dumb. They still can’t smell right.

.

I know 7 people who have had it.

All ages,

diabetic

Obese

High blood pressure

They all surivived.

I have heard of people who have died and 9x out of 10 they had a severe illness.

might not be the right word tho, lol

it’s the same argument folks that won’t wear a mask make. I had a similar discussion with a friend, her understanding does not factor in my life. how I live with two high risk people. I can’t risk being in crowds.

outside gonna be there...

. Also mask people can't explain why they dont wear goggles.

>. Also mask people can't explain why they dont wear goggles.

So Im gonna give you the benefit of the doubt and say do you know what a mucus membrane is?

It can cause permanent lung damage, heart problems, brain fog, and more. Our healthcare workers are exhausted, and some of our hospitals are out of space. Do you think that is all made up?

Is a GOOD thing.

Then, imagine completely ignoring the fact that the fatality rate is even worse for certain groups.


Then, imagine not thinking through what the fatality rate will look like when there are no fucking hospital beds.


Then, imagine completely ignoring all the other potential shit that comes with this thing- long-hauler syndrome, etc.


Finally, imagine being a selfish fucking asshole who isn't worried about spreading this thing because you yourself have a "99% chance of survival"

Just stay the fuck home. Its not hard. Its one year.

To look at a magical virus and not the overall trash health of a country.

I dont see a rush to shutdown fast-food, or fix food scarcity in African areas.

Yall slow.

>To look at a magical virus

If looking at viruses as magic helps you understand them, do you.


and not the overall trash health
>of a country.

Are you high right now? Who said we can't do both?

And, how do you not get that its all related?

Wait, you get that its all related, right? Please tell me you do.



>
>I dont see a rush to shutdown fast-food, or fix food scarcity
>in African areas.

Literally no one here would argue with you, but what's your fucking point in this context?

Read up, because the communities you are in here pretending to care about while playing keyboard revolutionary are getting hit the hardest

https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/08/13/902261618/covid-19-death-rate-for-black-americans-twice-that-for-whites-new-report-says


>
>Yall slow.


LOL

And lack nutritional knowledge.

Lets look at African and Caribbean countries.

Vitamin D3 deficiency

zinc deficiency

Overall nutrition and health.

Nooo lets blame a magic virus.

that causes hypertension, high cholesterol, diabetes

creates comorbidity when covid is introduced, meaning a rate of death much higher than in other populations

that's not concerning to you?

https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1330360255449100294

I don’t understand how Texas put him over any Texans. He’s such an invertebrate.

85,000 in the hospital right now. It would make a little more sense for these people if we didn’t know we have a vaccine coming soon. “And tell Covid, that it may take our lives, but it will never take our freeduuuuuuuuuumb”

Folk out here spreading the new bubonic plague just to get some turkey and meet up with relatives they barely like. Nope.

Peace,

Spirit (Alan)
http://wutangbook.com

....ENJOY!!

Thats why "we" continue to do dumb shit. Scienctists, military, doctors, teachers, etc bail everyone out. Its like a child that never sees the consequences of their actions because the parents save them.

"I’m just glad we’re getting back to the roots — long-distance travel, vectors of illness and the devastation of families."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/11/25/americans-revive-spirit-first-thanksgiving-by-carrying-disease-new-areas/

because going out to a bar the night before Thanksgiving is a nationwide holiday

a lot of dumb folks (young and older) will be out drinking in confined spaces with a bunch of people they haven't seen in a year and then rolling into grandma's house tomorrow

bars and restaurants are being forced to close at 10

IT WAS FOR THIS NIGHT


www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

Is it a Midwest thing?

I mean even the stupid dead end anti-science folks have to know he's wrong.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/proclamation-thanksgiving-day-2020/
....
NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim Thursday, November 26, 2020, as a National Day of Thanksgiving. I encourage all Americans to gather, in homes and places of worship, to offer a prayer of thanks to God for our many blessings.

I clicked the link and then I was like oh maybe he was joking, but then nope. Those last two paragraphs. Like he’s making a royal proclamation down to the townspeople from his castle. Absolute clown.

>I clicked the link and then I was like oh maybe he was
>joking, but then nope. Those last two paragraphs. Like he’s
>making a royal proclamation down to the townspeople from his
>castle. Absolute clown.

This kind of shocked me - he's still able to shock me.

http://youtu.be/I34X2PQKAA8

I have no doubts he will do many drastic things between now and January. Countdown is on for him to physically take a swing at someone on camera, and to flat out call for Civil War.

That party can NOT be trusted EVER again.

NEVER.

demands respect for the office.

From last week or so, though I guess Haberman has been writing some version of this article every year before the turkey pardon and this is just the culmination of it.

WHAT DONALD TRUMP LIKED ABOUT BEING PRESIDENT

He preferred the parts of the job that combined pomp, splendor and a world amenable to his decisions. In other words, he always seemed to genuinely enjoy pardoning turkeys.


President Trump pardoned a turkey named Peas during the annual ceremony at the White House in 2018.

By Matt Flegenheimer and Maggie Haberman
Nov. 23, 2020

In November 2018, after a vote that did not matter enough to him to push conspiracy theories about the outcome, President Trump stood in the Rose Garden and delivered the hard truth.

“This was a fair election,” he said to a bird named Carrots, sidelined at the annual White House turkey pardon after being snubbed in an online contest over which privileged poultry (Peas or Carrots) would star in the ritual. “Unfortunately, Carrots refused to concede and demanded a recount, and we’re still fighting with Carrots.”

The crowd laughed, and Mr. Trump smirked a little. Such hammy pageantry in stately settings, aides say, has long been a part of the job he especially enjoys. He gripped his lectern for the punchline, thumbs behind the presidential seal.

“We’ve come to a conclusion,” Mr. Trump said grandly. “Carrots, I’m sorry to tell you, the result did not change. It’s too bad for Carrots.”

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Two years later, after an election result that was too bad for Mr. Trump, he has been less willing to accept the cold math of whom the people want to see at the White House.

In the weeks since Election Day, the president and his allies have set off on a groundless and dangerous effort to overturn the will of an electorate that rejected him, moving to undercut basic tenets of American democracy to cling to an office he did not expect to win four years ago and has not particularly treasured since, by most accounts.

On Monday, after the administrator of the General Services Administration formally designated President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. as the apparent winner of the election, Mr. Trump blessed the move on Twitter while still vowing to move ahead with legal challenges.

Yet the president’s desperate gambit until this point has been so all-consuming, his aversion to losing so well known, that little attention has been paid to a knotty question underpinning it all: What, exactly, was he holding onto? Why fight so hard, and put the country through so much, to keep a position he has often not appeared to want?

In some ways, Mr. Trump had seemed to imagine his Washington life more closely resembling a rolling turkey pardon — the pomp and splendor, yes, but also a world largely amenable to his boss-man bearing and binary whims: This bird is spared. Those birds are not. He’d have his people call the turkey people and hammer out the fine print later. But through it all, his word would be final.

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This instinct has likewise fueled Mr. Trump’s affection for people-pardoning: He has used his pardon and clemency powers with abandon to reward allies and others whose causes are backed by celebrities. He is still considering a wave of such pardons for the final weeks of his tenure.

But for Mr. Trump, the more consistent reality of the presidency, laced with briefings and congressional obstacles and impeachment and criticism, has never quite measured up.

He has generally relished the aspects of the job that allow him to preside over something, fowl-based or otherwise — forums well suited to a leader for whom attention can seem less a wish than a psychic need.

The trappings and the title have plainly pleased him the most, placing him at the center of major celebrations for the mere fact of being president. He has marveled at the Bastille Day parade in Paris, taken to the “beautiful phones” at the White House and delighted in serving fast food to college football champions. In July, Mr. Trump, who has for years pressed the federal government to stage an elaborate fireworks display at Mount Rushmore, finally got his way.


Image


In early 2019, Mr. Trump served platters of fast food to the Clemson University football team during a White House visit to celebrate its national championship. Credit...Sarah Silbiger/The New York Times
He has also amused himself showing off Air Force One and the Lincoln Bedroom. Then there is the study off the Oval Office, which he converted into a small dining room — the space, he has informed guests with a twinkle, where Monica Lewinsky would visit President Bill Clinton.

Jeff Flake, a Republican former senator from Arizona who spoke forcefully against Mr. Trump before leaving office, recalled Mr. Trump’s manifest glee at posing for pictures in his work space.

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“He loves having people go into the Oval Office — him sitting with a thumbs up and for them to stand,” he said. “He seemed to never tire of that, of showing people the Oval Office and getting that picture.”

The president’s furious bid to keep power, Mr. Flake suggested, reflected Mr. Trump’s realization that his future celebrity might never match the present. “No matter how much fame he had before, it didn’t compare,” he said. “Once he had it, it’s tough to give up.”

Certainly Mr. Trump’s predecessors have appreciated many perks of the post, holding court with favored entertainers or athletes at the White House and growing fond of their privileged temporary address. But this president has taken a more conspicuous shine to such advantages than most.

It is little secret that the mechanics of government never much animated Mr. Trump. He has been on most sides of most major political issues throughout his adult life, depending on the day. His re-election campaign barely bothered with a detailed vision for a prospective second term, focusing far more often on cultural grievance and race-baiting rally fare.

While he has effectively abdicated any leadership role in steering the nation’s coronavirus response — generally processing its devastation this year through the lens of how the pandemic would affect him politically — the president plans to see to it that the turkey pardon proceeds as scheduled on Tuesday.

It stands to be one of his few public appearances in recent weeks amid runaway virus case numbers and his continued assault on the integrity of the election. Mr. Trump has maintained a light public schedule since Nov. 3 and has often seemed downcast at his handful of engagements, including an announcement about the push to develop coronavirus vaccines, which he had promoted aggressively during the campaign.

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Besides his regular golf outings on the weekends, the man who has historically seemed to need human interaction for sustenance — the audience for his perpetual show — is demonstrating little interest in being around others when he cannot point to something he can credibly call a win.


Image
Mr. Trump has spent much time at his golf course in Sterling, Va., since the election.

Mr. Trump has spent much time at his golf course in Sterling, Va., since the election.Credit...Oliver Contreras for The New York Times
But then, the image of Mr. Trump merrily addressing turkeys in this context might register as a fitting turn for an executive end-stage that has constantly commingled calamity and absurdity.

It is also something of a culmination after three years of turkey pardons that have at times doubled as surprisingly telling snapshots of Mr. Trump’s frame of mind at various points in his presidency, with cutting asides and easy smiles in equal measure.

“From what I’ve seen,” said Beth Breeding, a spokeswoman for the National Turkey Federation, “the president seems to have really enjoyed them.”

At the event in 2017, as Mr. Trump was working to reverse as much of the Obama legacy as he could, he joked that the White House Counsel’s Office had reminded him that the former president’s turkey pardons could not be revoked.

In 2018, with congressional investigations looming as Democrats prepared to take control of the House, the president said he had warned Peas and Carrots that “House Democrats are likely to issue them both subpoenas” despite his clemency.

And in 2019, as an impeachment inquiry and the upcoming election weighed on him, Mr. Trump opened with a bit of self-congratulation (“it’s always nice to begin by saying the stock market is up again”), allowed his mind to wander to the emotional comforts of his victory in 2016 (“very great day”) and complained bitterly about Representative Adam B. Schiff, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.

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By the end, though, the president was fulfilling the part of the job that always made the most sense to him: master of ceremonies. He placed his hand over a turkey named Butter, used the word “hereby” to infuse the proceedings with requisite gravitas (“I hereby grant you a full and complete pardon”) and started clapping on his way back inside.

“That was great,” Mr. Trump said, watching the crowd watch him. “Lot of fun.”


~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz